Railway-switch



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A. P. SOHI EE RAILWAY SWITOHI No. 514,037. I Patented Feb. 6, 1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTIN'F. SOHINNER, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,037, dated February 6, 1894.

Application filed June 5,1893. Serial No. 476,616. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUSTIN F. SCHINNER,

of Mllwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Switches, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wh1ch are a part of this specification. My lnvention has relation to improvements 1n railway switches adapted to be operated in connection with cars provided with electric energy for actuating them.

The object had in view is to provide an efficient mechanism adapted under the control of the motor man or driver by means of an electric circuit from thecar to the switch operating mechanism, for adjusting the switch point; and with this in view the invention conslsts in the improved construction and combination of parts as-hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the'accompanying. drawings, Figure 1, is a plan view of a railroad bed and tracks, showing a contact bar adapted for one of my improved forms of switch mechanism. Fig. 2 is an elevation of theswitch-operating magnets, and devices therewith for securing a closure of the electric circuits.

The same numerals indicate like parts on the several figures.

The track consists of the main rails 1, 1, the branch or siding rails 2, 2, the swinging switch point 3, and the permanent frog 3%.

A contact bar 4 is located in the roadbed -between the tracks and parallel thereto in front of the switch point, and beneath the roadbed, on the side where the switch point is located, are disposed twoelectro-magnets 5, 5, consisting of coils of wire which surround a movable core 6 of magnetizable material. This core is provided with an upwardly extending arm 7, the upper end of which passes through-a transversely elongated slot 8, and is connected to the switch point. An insulated wire 25 leads from the central contact bar 4, to the metal post 32 to which it is connected conveniently by a binding screw. A tilting and sliding metal bar 30 is provided with an elongated longitudinal slot 31 medially, by which it is pivoted and supported on the post 32 conveniently by means of a pin 33 fixed in the post and projecting into the slot in the bar. The bar 30 is provided with upwardly projecting fingers 34 one near each end adapted severally to engage the pins 35 fixed in the core 6. Beneath the extremities of the bar 30 are metal plates 13 which are inversely connected electrically with the magnets 5, 5, by the insulated conductors 26 and 28 respectively which magnets are in turn connected electrically to arail of the railway track by the wires 27 and 29 respectively, and are thereby grounded, thus providinga circuit or discharge for the electric current through the magnets. The pins 3i are insulated from the bar 30 by means of the interposed insulating cushion 36, and the plates 13 as well as the supports of the magnets 5 are insulated by the cushion 37.

Suitable movable and controllable devices are provided on the cars, for energizing the plate 4: electrically, when desired, as a car passes over the plate, by contact therewith, for the purpose of actuating the core 6 and shifting the switch-point.

The construction and arrangement of this device are such that as the magnet 5 (at the rightin Fig. 2, and when the devices are in the positions there shown) is energized the core will be drawn into the magnet, and the finger 34 (at the right) being in contact with the adjacent pin 35, the bar 30 is drawn thereby toward the right and by electric energy is held in contact therewith until the core and the switch point have reached the limit of their movements toward the right and by the same energy will be held in that position until the electric circuit is broken, which occurs when electric energy is no longer supplied from the car to plate 4, and thereupon gravity will cause the longer arm of the bar 30 (at the right) to fall on the plate 13 at the right. In this position, the electric circuit at this point is complete from the plate 4 through the wire 25, post 32, bar 30, plate 13, wire 26, magnet 5 (at the left) and wire 27, so that when the circuit is again closed through plate 4, the movement of the core and of the switch point will, by electric energy, be reversed.

What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination with a railway track and a swinging switch point, of a movable electric contact device on a car, a contact bar in the road-bed adapted to be contacted by an electricity conducting device carried on a car traveling on the track, electro-magnets opposite each other below and connected electrically to the track, a metal core reciprocative in the magnets which core is connected mechanically to the switch point in such manner that the movement of the core correspondingly moves the switch point, a shifting bar connected electrically to the contact bar and arranged to be shifted mechanically by the movement of the core, and plates in electric connection severally with one of the magnets, which plates are arranged to be contacted severally by the shifting bar, substantially as described.

2. In a device for shifting a railroad switch, the combination with a plurality of electromagnets, and a metal core reciprocative endwise in the magnets, said core having laterally projecting pins and being connected mechanically to and so as by its movement to actuate the switch point,of a sliding and tilting bar provided with fingers adapted to engage the core pins and in its alternate positions to close and complete electric circuits through the magnets for actuating the core, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a plurality of electro-magnets and a reciprocative metal core having laterally projecting pins, of a metal bar having fingers, the bar being so mounted on a metal post connected electrically to an electricsupply that a finger on the bar will engage a pin on the core and the bar be moved endwise by the movement of the core, the bar being also adapted to tilt by gravity when its point of support on the post is changed by the movement of the bar endwise, and metal plates under the extremities of the tilting bar connected electrically respectively to the electro-magnets, the bar and the plates being adapted by their connections and contact to transmit an electric current from the electric supply to one or the other of the electro-magnets, substantially as described.

4. The combination, of a plurality of electro-magnets opposite each other endwise, a core reciprocative therein, plates 13' severally connected electrically to one of the electro-magnets, a metal post 32 connected electrically to an electric supply, a sliding and tilting metal bar mounted on the post 32 so as to tilt into contact with one or the other plate 13', and fingers 34L fixed on but insulated from the bar 30- adapted to engage pins on the core, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTIN F. SCHINNER.

Witnesses:

C. T. BENEDICT, ANNA V. FAUST. 

